The Pirate and the Hero
by Wordsworth 13
Summary: Link and Tetra are travelling the high seas, in search of the new Hyrule, but a lot of things will cross their paths before a promised land does. And the return of someone they never wanted to see again. LinkXTetra
1. Link & Tetra

**The Pirate and the Hero**

By: Wordsworth 13

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda

* * *

Chapter 1: Link & Tetra

The boy was stood at the prow of the boat, his hands resting on the railing. His bright blonde hair was flowing in the gentle breeze, and his turquoise eyes were scanning the waters before him, with the glint that only adventurer's eyes have. He was wearing an odd, floppy hat that made him look like some sort of imp, and a sleeveless green tunic, underneath which he wore a lime green shirt and a pair of white trousers. The reason for his unusual garb was that on one island, by the name of Outset, it became tradition for boys to be dressed in green, like the legendary hero of time, on their twelfth birthday, and it had been the boy's twelfth birthday when his adventures had began. Over his back, his family's wooden shield was slung and beneath that his sword, resting in its scabbard. On his right, a slender, silver wand; this was the Wind Waker, an artefact used in the manner of a conductor's baton, to play magical songs that controlled the wind, and other things like the time of day. His ears were long and pointed and all in all he had a rather elf-like appearance, but make no mistake, you'd be hard pressed to find elves anywhere on the Great Sea, he was a Hylian, and though the prosperous kingdom of Hyrule had not existed for a good hundred years it's people hadn't changed. The reason the kingdom hadn't existed for a century, was because the three goddesses had flooded it to keep it from falling into the hands of a man of great evil, and this was why the boy was sailing with a pirate crew, they were in search of the new Hyrule. He was thirteen, and it had been a year since he had defeated aforementioned man of great evil; Ganondorf, Gerudo prince and leader of the thieves, it had also been a year since he began his voyage alongside the crew's captain; Tetra, who happened to be at that moment, walking up behind him.

"Link," She said sternly "why aren't you working?" Link turned around, Tetra was dressed in her usual baggy white trousers, pale lavender vest and blue, sleeveless jacket, along with a red neckerchief and dark orangey-red piece of cloth used as a belt with a dagger wound into it. Also as usual, her blonde hair was up in what was probably the most incomprehensible bun ever, which rather resembled a snail shell. Her skin was tanned dark from a full thirteen years on the high seas and her deep blue eyes were glaring at him. She also happened to be the Princess Zelda of the De Hyrule bloodline, or for any layman who may be reading this story, the Hyrulian royal family. Admittedly, she was probably the only thirteen year old female pirate captain who also happened to be a princess on the Great Sea, though she didn't like her crew ever talking about the princess part.

Link was looking at her as if he hadn't understood the question. "Should I be working?" he said impassively. Link was a child with a logical mind, and the kind of person whom you can always read by their expression. "Yes." Tetra said matter-of-factly. "Oh really." Link said as if he'd just been told a piece of uninteresting news. The conversation really didn't go anywhere after that. After about fifteen seconds of silence Tetra asked "How do you get away with stuff like this?"

"Because I have this." Link said pulling the Wind Waker from his belt. What Link said was probably was true, thanks to that silver wand, the crew had sailed everywhere they needed to go at any point twice as fast as they usually would have. Tetra frowned slightly, pulling out a musty old sea chart. "We must have sailed every sector of the sea," she stated in a voice that reflected what she said next "we might never find the new Hyrule."

"Maybe it's under the compass." Link joked, tapping the small circle indicating north in the corner of the map. Tetra sighed, why did she let this idiot on board? Maybe it was because he was the first person to treat her like a friend instead of like a captain, maybe it was because he reminded her of the childhood she lost when her mother died and she had to take command of the galleon, maybe it was because he was drop dead handsome and she needed something to stare at, but I suppose all that mattered was it was the two of them, along with a bunch of smelly pirates, sailing the ocean, searching for a new land.

Suddenly the boat shook, only slightly. The two looked at each other in confusion. "Maybe it's a Gyorg." Link said, with no evidence behind the theory

"One Gyorg couldn't do that." Tetra said, just as dumbfounded as link, the two of them walked over to the starboard side, along the way Link commented "Well, maybe it's a seahat? I mean warships are uncommon." Looking over the side they just saw perfectly normal seawater; however the waves were a bit larger than normal. "That's weird." Said a bemused Tetra, "Senza, what's going on?" She yelled at the large bearded crewman

"Just some stormy weather, Miss Tetra, nothing to worry about!" Senza called back.

"Stormy?" Link said, slightly confused "The sky's about as dark as a fairy cake and you're trying to tell me we've hit stormy weather? You're off your nut!" The boat shook violently "On the other hand, we might just have hit some stormy weather." He said, checking the sky. It had about as many clouds in it as my sock drawer.

There was another huge rocking on the boat's part that sent Tetra and Link rolling to the port side. The only reason Senza wasn't falling about like a loon was the fact that he was holding onto the ship's wheel. "What the heck was that?" Niko, a member of the crew yelled out, after having rolled across the deck, still holding his mop. He was a short man of about forty with the same blonde hair as Tetra and a pair of uneven buck teeth. He glanced over and saw Link and Tetra "Good morning Miss Tetra," he said, then he turned to Link "mornin' Swabbie!" Link sighed, though he was no longer at the bottom of the hierarchy aboard ship, Niko still constantly referred to him as 'Swabbie', the position he filled the first time he was aboard ship.

"What the hell's going on?" Tetra asked no-one, "Storms are different than this, nothing's ever shook the ship like that." There was another jerk, flinging Link and Tetra against the rails. "Ow," Link groaned, then out of nowhere he felt something cold and wet land on his nose. He looked up to see a few more raindrops falling, leaving dark circles on the deck. Tetra looked up too "Let's get below deck; this storm's only gonna get worse," she said, standing up. At the worst possible time the ship shook again, leaving Tetra falling over the railings. "Tetra!" Link yelled, making a blind grab for her hand, and missing. Niko pulled himself up and grabbed his bucket, which had rolled towards him when the ship tilted. There was another tremor, Niko fell down and dropped his bucket which hit Link in the back of the head, which, combined with the now sloping floor sent him over the rails. Niko ran up to the side of the boat. "Uh, oops." He said to himself.

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There it is. Chapter 1, rewritten thank you, with better descriptions and more accuracy you see when I first wrote the chapter I didn't own a copy of the game! Thanks to my two reviewers of my original chapter 1, hope you like this new one! 


	2. Past & Present

**The Pirate and the Hero**

By: Wordsworth 13

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda

* * *

Chapter 2: Past & Present

Tetra slowly opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a concerned looking face with blonde hair and deep emerald eyes. It was also uncomfortably close. "Tetra," Links said, rearing up and smiling with an open mouth "you're awake!" He said offering his hand. Tetra pushed herself up from the sand "I can get up on my own, moron." She hissed "Well someone's not in a good mood." Link said playfully.

"Oh, shut up!" Tetra looked around, they were on a pretty much normal looking island, but it was strangely unfamiliar. She'd sailed every square on her sea chart and she couldn't put name nor location to the island, but it looked average sized, about the same as the bustling market place, Windfall Island. She frowned "We need to come up with a plan to get off this rock." She said quietly. Link glanced at her with an inquiring look

"Why?" he asked plaintively

"Because." Tetra replied

"Because why?" he asked again

"Well we can't stick around here for the rest of our lives!"

"Yeah," Link said, shrugging "but the pirates'll come find us."

"What makes you say that?"

"No offence, but they're not smart enough to come up with another plan." He ran towards a tree near the water's edge and climbed up onto the highest branch. He put his hand above his eyes and looked to the horizon. "It could take a couple of days though; I don't know how long we were out," he paused and slowly said "or if the pirates know which way is north." He joked.

Tetra looked up at him, folded her arms and smiled shaking her head. Link looked like a true adventurer, staring into the horizon. He reached into one of his pockets and fished around then paused and stared into space for a bit, "Oh yeah, I gave Aryll her telescope back didn't I." Link had not, in fact, changed his outfit for a year, partly because he had grown attached to his hero's clothes, but mainly because he hadn't actually noticeably grown. Tetra hadn't changed her appearance either, probably because the traditional pirate regalia made the same statement as the large galleon and the Jolly Roger flag, which was basically: Yes, yes, take my money just please don't hurt me!

Staring at Link, stood on the Beech tree, his tunic blowing in the wind, Tetra's mind wandered back to the day she and him had first met.

Link dragged himself up the fallen white barked tree, and ran across it, and glanced up at the girl, he guessed she was a pirate due to her outfit, and the ship he'd seen pursuing the large bird that had carried her to Outset, though it was unusual to see one so young. He ran up to the bottom of the tree and reached up to grab the first branch when he heard a strange squawking noise. He looked up to see two sinister looking birds carrying a pair of slim, blue-black creatures in tattered jackets without sleeve. Link could see what was going to happen next and just as he'd predicted the birds dropped the two bokoblins, and they landed before him with bloodlust in their eyes. Link, never one to falter when faced with danger, especially not something as meagre as this, Leapt backwards, then bounded forth and brought his sword down on the first creature, knocking it weapon away, it's eyes widened and the only thought that passed through its head before Link brought down his sword was, _Oh, sh-._

Link turned to his second opponent that had a determined glint in its eye and a nasty grin on its face. It raised its twig, which was basically the thing's weapon, and was about to bring it down when Link rolled across the floor, to behind the monster, and ran it through with the sword Orca, the old man in the next house from his own, had given him. The creatures wound leaked purple smoke and it dissolved into a plume of violet haze. The girl slowly opened her eyes and stared down in shock at the ground a good four metres below her, she began to thrash around madly in an attempt to get free from the branch that was hooked to her jacket. Link raised his hand an yelled urgently "No, wait don't struggle, the branch'll-" but he spoke to late and he heard an unpleasant crack, then had to shield his eyes from the dust cloud thrown up by the girls landing. "snap." He finished timidly. Tetra pushed herself up and looked Link up and down, raising one eyebrow. He was after all, dressed like some kind of weird fairy. Then Link heard a deep, burly voice.

"Miss! Miss Tetra!" a tall, barrel chested man with a tattoo of a wave visible under his neck ran up to her breathing heavily "Miss Tetra, thank goodness we found you, when that bird dropped you on this summit we thought you-" he was interrupted by the young captain "Summit? So that bird dropped me on top of a mountain. Well that wasn't very nice of it!" The man, Gonzo, looked at Link

"Who's this kid?" He inquired

"He's no-one," Tetra answered "now come on!" She said walking off.

"No-one?" Yelled Link as he ran after them "If it wasn't for me you'd be bokoblin chow!"

Tetra was brought out of her thoughts by a cawing seagull, gliding on the wind. She stared at it for a moment as it flew away, and then turned to see Link jump out of the tree, landing with a splash where the waves had just rolled in. He turned to face her and smiled, then there was an odd grumbling sound from nowhere. Link glanced down and declared "I'm hungry." Tetra slowly turned to face him as if he'd just said something incredibly stupid. "Then go find us something to eat."

"Aw, why do I always have to do all the work?" Link whined

"You're the one who's hungry, not me." Tetra stated flatly

"Fine," Link grumbled, slowly trotting away into the trees. Tetra fell backwards onto the sand and allowed her thoughts to drift back into the past as she gazed up at the clouds.

The ship slowly drifted up to the shores of Outset Island and Link and his sister Aryll gazed fondly upon home. They heard Tetra's footsteps on the planks behind them. "Well, you're home." She said smiling, as Gonzo and Nudge lowered the boarding plank onto the beach and the blonde haired siblings trotted down it onto oh so familiar sand and were greeted by a few of their fellow islanders. Orca, who wore a pair of purple trousers and somehow had a gut that hug out and yet you could also see his ribs through his twig thin chest, came out of his house to greet the two. "Link, you've returned again, and you've brought your sister." He said through his slick beard and drooping moustache. Link turned to look at his house and reeled back at the disturbing image he saw. It was Zill, a child from the island, who always had an enormous booger hanging out of his nose. "Hi Link, where ya been?" He asked in his nasally voice.

"Uh," was all Link could say; he always found the sight of Zill quite disturbing. He moved his head to one side so he could get a clear look at his house. Yep, it was still the same hexagonal wooden shack, with the same thatched roof, and the same Triforce painted on its door. And stood on the porch was his grandmother.

He ran towards the house and yelled "Grandma! Grandma, I'm home!" She turned to him just as he skidded to a halt where the grass ended and the planks in front of the house began. She smiled with closed eyes as always. "Link," she breathed "I'm so happy to see you." She turned to look at Aryll as she caught up with her brother

"Grandma!" She cried, running up to and hugging the old lady

"Aryll, I'm so glad you're safe," Grandma said softly, running her hand through Aryll's bright blonde hair.

Back aboard the pirates' galleon Tetra watched the heart warming scene, but had a forlorn look on her face, she hadn't even said goodbye properly, and she was just going to sail away from the best friend she'd ever had. She sighed and thought; _I'm such an idiot, but that's what pirates do, we just sail away and forget about it. _"Miss Tetra!" she heard Gonzo's voice "We're ready to set sail Miss, should we go now?" Tetra looked up "Gonzo?" she asked

"Yes Miss?"

"How many supplies do we have?" Gonzo wasn't expecting to be asked but managed to say "I, uh, don't know Miss, I'll just go check." He ran off below deck and she could hear his footsteps going down the stairs to the cargo bay. At least she'd bought herself five more minutes. Of what she didn't know, but she had five more minutes to just stare at Outset, five more minutes to dread leaving. After not nearly long enough, Gonzo came running out of the cargo bay and ran up to the young captain. "Miss Tetra, we have half capacity of, uh, everything." He reported

"Well, then," she mused "maybe we should go ashore and get some supplies."

"Uh, yes Miss." Gonzo agreed, then yelled to Nudge "Nudge! Get Zuko and lower the boarding plank!"

"Aw, but I just brought it back up!" Nudge winged. Considering the people who'd be gathering said supplies, the crew may be spending many hours on the island before they'd be done. Eventually, after a long 'discussion' the Boarding plank was put down by Zuko and Nudge who now had a black eye. Tetra walked down the board with an air that said 'I'm first and if you don't agree my dagger can have a little talk to you about it.' The rest of the crew followed and began to go about their unspecified duties. Tetra glanced around, she couldn't see Link anywhere but Aryll was stood atop the watch tower, so she ran over to it and climbed the ladder to the top. She could see the little girl in her blue dress, playing with the gulls "Aryll." The blonde turned to look at Tetra,

"Tetra? I thought you were gonna sail off." She said in a questioning tone

"Yeah, but we gotta pick some things up first. So anyway, could you tell me where your brother is?" Aryll nodded

"Yep, he's up on top of the mountain, by the big tree see?" She pointed to the summit of the island, and the top of a large palm tree was just visible. "Yeah, thanks," Tetra said sweetly, "I'll see ya a little later 'kay." She said turning around.

"Tetra?" Tetra turned at the young girl's voice "You don't really have to pick anything up do you?" Aryll asked her. Tetra felt herself blush slightly, but damned if she knew why. She just smiled and shook her head, climbing down the ladder.

She did indeed find Link atop the first of the two mountains that made up Outset. He was sat resting his head on the tree trunk with his eyes closed. He didn't seem to have noticed Tetra's presence. "Hey," she said, Link opened his eyes and looked up at her "Tetra?" She sat down next to him and looked him up and down. He'd changed out of his 'hero's clothes' and into his normal orange trousers and blue jersey with a white lobster printed on it. "What are you doing here?" he asked. Tetra looked up and said

"I, well, I didn't get a chance to say goodbye, not properly." She confessed then she looked at him "What are you doing here then?" she asked him, laying her head back against the bark. "Just thinking." He said quietly

"About what?" He sighed and confessed

"King." And that was enough; she knew exactly what he was talking about. The king of Hyrule had been buried under the waves along with his kingdom, and he missed his friend, but when he said 'King' he meant the King of Red Lions, the talking boat who was basically a way for the King to exist above the waves. He smiled and turned to Tetra, "Tetra?" She looked at him questioningly "We're friends right?" She nodded "And the king told us, that _we_ had to search for a new Hyrule right?" She nodded again "In that case;" he began with closed eyes. "I'd like to come with you." Now he was smiling widely at her. All Tetra could do was smile back. "Gimme ten minutes to get my stuff." He told her.

About fifteen minutes later he was stood before his grandmother, now in his somewhat strange green garments, and had just told her the good or bad news, depending which way you flip the pancake. Tetra was stood beside him. "So you're going away again." The seventy year old woman said looking down sadly. Link frowned; he really didn't like it when he made anyone sad. Then she looked up again "But, you said it's for your friend right? I'm just not sure you'll be safe, you're only thirteen." Link looked, out from the porch, over the island. "Yeah," he said "but there's plenty of grown ups on the crew, I'll be fine." Grandma still looked rather concerned

"I know, but do you think they're mature enough to look after children?" Link turned around and saw Gonzo chasing a pig and Niko sat with tears in his eyes and his hand stuck in a mousetrap, apparently he'd been trying to get the cheese. He turned back around and said "No, but Tetra's been with them her whole life and she's lasted about twelve years." Eventually she agreed.

Tetra and Link were walking back to the galleon, and Tetra suddenly piped up "You know you are technically still a swabbie." Link glanced at her

"Yes Captain." He said without a hint of fuss. Then Aryll caught his eye "Hold on a second." He told Tetra, running towards his sister. He knelt down next to her and reached into one of his numerous pockets and pulled out an orange telescope with seagulls painted on it. "I didn't give this back to you." He said to her, finally returning her prized possession "Bye." He said placing a kiss on her forehead. He ran back to his friend "Okay," he said "let's go."

Tetra stopped reminiscing and began to wonder where her now navigator was. She sighed and thought; _Knowing Link, he's probably got his foot stuck in something.

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_

Okay! That's it! Finally done! Whoa, loooooooooooooooooooong chapter! But howdya like it? If you couldn't tell what was flashback and what wasn't, one: sorry 'bout that, I just like to write like a real author and two: you're an idiot!

Ciao


	3. Struggle & Strife

**The Pirate and the Hero**

By: Wordsworth 13

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda

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Chapter 3: Struggle & Strife

Tetra lay on the sand wondering where her friend was, and sat up. A few grains of sand fell out of her hair. A rustling came from a small cluster of bushes behind her and she turned around to see Link pushing his way through them. "Any luck?"

"Nope." He stated flatly sitting down on a rock. His venture to find food had been literally fruitless. All he'd gotten was a few spiders in his hair, which he promptly brushed out. He moaned pitifully. "Come on," Tetra said "you're the guy with a thousand pockets; surely you must have something in that stupid outfit of yours that we can eat!"

"Well, maybe…" Link said, ignoring the comment about his fashion sense and fishing around in one of his front pockets, and pulling out a small purple bag made to look like a strange face. He reached into the spoils bag and pulled out a large drop of something green, somewhere between solid and liquid. "You like chu jelly?"

"Do we have anything other than chu jelly?" she asked condescendingly

"No" Link said with some confusion in his voice

"Then I like chu jelly." She replied. Link pulled out another glob of the green substance of uncertain consistency and handed it to Tetra, taking a bite out of his own. It tasted like apple preserve.

Tetra turned to the green garbed hero and asked "Where do you think we are?

"No clue." He replied, pulling his sea chart from his back pocket, which was basically used to carry maps, and Link sure had a hell had a lot of them. He traced his finger around the map "We could be anywhere around Gale Isle…" He said uncertainly.

The pirates meanwhile were staring off the port bow, to the north. "Are ya sure?" Niko asked worriedly "Yup." Gonzo replied "That'd be definitely where they went, the storm must've taken 'em that way!" Niko looked over the rolling waters glinting in the evening sun "Are ya sure?" he asked again

"Yup,"

"Sure?"

"Yup,"

"Sure?" Niko asked desperately.

"Yes!" Gonzo exclaimed, sick of being asked the same question for over fifteen minutes now, and bluntly it was a surprise to all that his patience lasted that long. Niko just gulped as he looked over the rolling blood red sea.

The day was growing weary, and Link was just licking the remaining jelly from his hands. Tetra was just looking at him with a patronizing expression. He looked over into the distance and his eyes widened. "Link, what're you staring at?" Tetra asked

"K-…K-…" He managed to stutter. Tetra's face twisted into a look of befuddlement. "Kargaroc!" He finally screamed, grabbing her vest and pulling the two them to the ground just as the black bird with its decorative, flowing golden tail feathers swooped over head with its talons reared to snatch one of them away, letting out an unusually fearsome screech. Tetra looked up at the bird that was double the species' normal size "Whoa! That thing's huge!" She cried out. Link jumped to his feet and pulled hid decoratively crafted Hero's Bow from his tunic, as well as a single arrow. He pulled it into the bow as the bird turned around from its failed swoop. He narrowed his eyes as the bird began flying towards him at full velocity. "Link!" Tetra screamed as the beast rushed at him. It was then that Link let go of his bow string. The arrow hurtled through the air and came into contact with the Kargaroc. It went into the monster's throat and it fell from the air. As it landed head first on the ground there came the unpleasant sound of the creature's neck breaking, at which Tetra winced. The corpse quickly dissolved into a violet haze and left behind a single golden feather. Link picked it up and slipped it into his spoils bag.

"I thought you already traded a bunch of those to that guy on Dragonroost." Tetra said, gesturing towards the feather. "Yeah," Link replied "but I've been collecting them to make a pillow."

"A Pillow?" Tetra questioned

"Well yeah," he came back cheerfully, but then his face turned slightly more serious "I do have to sleep on a crate you know."

"No you don't," she retorted wittily "you can sleep on the floorboards if you like."

"Ha, ha," Link came sarcastically, and then looked to the dense dark foliage to his right. "Well as long as we're here we may as well try and explore, see if we can figure out where we are."

"But weren't you out there exploring a couple of hours ago?"

"Nah, I was just checking for food, I didn't really take notice of anything."

"Okay," Tetra said, turning and walking briskly off to into the see green mass of plants.

"Hey! Wait up!" Link yelled, chasing after her.

The two slowly sauntered through what the thick undergrowth, as the thick trees seemed to develop into a forest, "D'you think there's anything in here?" Tetra enquired, turning to face Link

"Well there's usually a post-box and a Blue Chu-Chu or something." Link replied, though not with total confidence in his theory. Link looked up at the glowing moon as the two of them came to a clearing with bare dead ground. I can tell you the last thing Link expected or wanted was a milky coloured skeletal hand to rip itself from the turf before him.

A Stalfos dragged itself up from the parched earth, the dust running off it. It was basically a skeleton that looked it used to belong to someone who was extremely ugly, which was what was going through Link's head as it stood before him bearing a huge, spiked iron club, but there weren't that many good looking people among the scattered ranks of the world's current population, the only one who came immediately to mind was Tetra. His next thought was: _Holy Crap! Why did I think that?_

It was this lapse of concentration that allowed the undead abomination to come to a close proximity to our hero and raise its club. Glancing up, his pupils shrinking to dots, Link swung his sword wildly and managed to separate the bottom part of the creature from the top, and so was quickly being chased by a pair of bony legs that were acting like a headless chicken and a screaming ribcage with a skull that looked like it belonged to a chicken. And he himself was screaming. Tetra just shook her head and sighed. "You're pathetic." Link skidded round an imaginary corner in an attempt to lose the two pieces of corpse that were chasing him and spotted a tree limb. _Ha, ha!_ He thought as an idea struck him. He continued running as he reached into his left pocket and felt something cold and spherical. He halted and swiftly turned around, somewhat sending mixed signals to his pursuer, who also halted and tilted its cranium in confusion. Link produced the dark blue bomb he had been gripping from his pocket and the fuse lit itself, don't ask why, they just had a tendency to do that, as he shoved it into the now glaring at him Stalfos' mouth. "Bye." He said gleefully, watching his grappling hook wrap around the tree limb he'd seen earlier. He jumped off the ground and swung forward with all his might, in the process kicking the skeleton's head off.

Now, the thing's ribcage and arms desperately dragging themselves towards its cranium and Link now overlooking the chaos from the high limb just below the canopy, the fuse finally ran out and a small explosion blew the skull to cinders. The other bones merely dissolved into thin violet clouds and the skull vanished into a huge plume of the stuff, leaving behind nought but a few coloured gems, a small red heart shape and a heavy iron club. With the exception of the weapon he gathered the spoils of his victory up, slipping the glinting rupees into a sack with a patch depicting an orange one of the gems, and feeling the heart return what little strength he had lost over the day.

He turned to look at Tetra, who had been watching from the sidelines. Actually she was quite impressed at Link's strategy, usually he would have merely swung his sword blindly, in the hope that the Stalfos would fall apart, but she'd never tell him that. "Impressed?" Link asked her

"Nope." She replied, proving my point.

"Man," Link sighed "I haven't seen this many monsters since Ganon was still around." He propped him self up against a tree and let himself slip to the ground. He groaned with weariness. "You're pathetic." Tetra chimed

"You're not the one fighting off monsters left right and centre!" He retorted from his seat at the wide trunk of the tree. Link sighed and closed his eyes, allowing his body to lollop due to his exhaustion. Then his sensitive, pointed ears pricked up at a familiar sound. "Denneg!" His eyes bolted open and he winced

"Oh, goddesses please no…" he murmured as the cries came again

"Denneg, denneg!" Tetra glanced around and spotted a bush rustling in the corner of her eye

"What the?" Within practically no time a group of small impish creatures with glowing yellow eyes and small tridents. These, Miniblins, were without a doubt the most annoying things in existence, even worse than when you can't get the cellophane off of a DVD box. Tetra drew a small dagger from the scabbard on her belt and began to skilfully place blows to the heart in each creature. It was now Link's turn to watch from the sidelines. The creatures just seemed to keep coming, like they were spawning from something behind the bushes, but then they just stopped. Tetra was thoroughly exhausted, but being as she was didn't show it aside from some slightly shallow breathing. Link pulled himself up from his resting place and said "Well, like you said, let's get going." He had a certain amount of smugness in his tone. He knew Tetra would now be tired out from her battle with the world's most grating voices and that she wouldn't be able to keep up with him. He took great joy in finding any chink in the invincible captain's armour.

They continued through the shades of turquoise and mud brown. It was beginning to get darker in the forest. Since the canopy wasn't thickening Link guessed night was falling. He looked up through the palisade that was the thick cluster of branches and leaves topping the forest, to glimpse a full moon illuminating the night's sky. He had become used to sleepless nights during his journeys as the Hero of Winds, he had learned the hard way that dozing off whilst sailing the King of Red Lions was unacceptable, especially if drowning due to Seahat attacks wasn't on your list of 'Things to do Before I Die'. It seemed that restless night times were something that Tetra had gotten used to as well, babysitting the pirates and the dragging them back to the ship once they were drunk and _then_ making them do all the hard work when they had hangovers the next morning.

Once again, the thick trees gave way to a clearing. It was larger than the one before, and it had a pool of dark blue water that glistened in the moonlight on its left side. Tetra sat down, still striving not to show she was silently thanking the goddesses for the opportunity. Link went to take a closer look at the pool. He saw a small hole in the side of the bank that the water was spilling out of, and he could just make out another one on the other side that was draining the water out at the same rate. There was something strangely familiar about the way it glistened. He dipped an empty bottle had was carrying into it and took at sip.

Tetra was laid against a tree and was merely observing her surroundings, there was essentially nothing of interest or significance and frankly the scenery was rather grim. She looked down and to her right and saw a tiny, withering bulb in the same scorched, slate grey as a dehydrated bomb plant. She held one of the dying leaves in her palm and ran her thumb around the dry, cracking surface in a circular motion, and began wondering what kind of plant it actually was. Then she heard a familiar voice say her name "Tetra," she looked up at Link "this is forest water." He said holding up the bottle

"What's forest water?" she asked, not actually curious, but just trying to point out what he'd said wasn't as important as he made it sound, considering she'd never even heard of the stuff. "It's a kind of water found only at the Forest Haven, it can wake any dying plant grow." He said knowingly, obviously trying to impress her with his encyclopaedic knowledge.

She got up and walked over to him, snatching the bottle "Let me see that." She said examining the contents of what looked more like a glass jar than a bottle. She walked over to the small bulb she had taken a fascination to earlier and uncorked the bottle. "Tetra, what are you doing?" Link asked with a hint of concern in his voice

"Just testing the stuff out," she replied calmly, eager to see the effects of the magical liquid

"But you don't know what that thing is!" he yelled pointing at the bulb. To be honest, Tetra thought he was getting worked up over nothing. "Relax, it's probably just a harmless flower, you worry too much."

"Bu- wait, since when did you care about flowers?"

"I don't but if it's rare it'll fetch a good price from some girly girl."

"Okay, but st-" Link was interrupted by a sharp

"Quiet! Another word on the subject and you'll be doing Niko's job as soon as we're back on board the ship!" from Tetra. This shut Link up, as the thought alone of washing the underpants of any pirate crew, let alone Tetra's was enough to give him nightmares for three weeks.

Tetra turned the still uncorked bottle on its side and allowed the water to drop out, onto the dry bulb, that slowly regained a sharp orangey red colour, and its leaves bloomed into a lush green. Then for a short, it just sat there like a good plant should but then, the bulb quickly, opened up, and an almost familiar looking, huge flower with an olive green stalk and a florescent orange head. It roared. No, that isn't misspelled, you read it correctly. The plant roared. Tetra stepped back in alarm and Link thought; _What the? That thing looks like Kalle Demos!_He also noted that it was a different clour than the killer plant he'd fought a year ago.It appeared to sniff and then turned to tetra, opening its mouth and revealing its long, camouflage green tongue, and bit down into Tetra's arm. She screamed, wincing from the pain like nothing she'd ever experienced before, as a few drops of crimson blood splashed onto the prickly, yellow grass.

* * *

Hooray! Chapter 3 is finally done, nasty cliff hanger there, and I can't even start writing the next chappy until after my holiday! Oh, I'm so cruel! By the way, if any one sees DemonSlayer666, punch him for me. Okay? Thanks. Ciao. 


	4. Life & Death

**The Pirate and the Hero**

By: Wordsworth 13

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda

Chapter 4: Life & Death

* * *

Tetra bit onto her lip as the excruciating pain ran through her forearm and her blood splashed onto the parched soil. She was, as it happened, doing this to prevent herself from crying. She was far too proud a character to allow herself to cry in front of any member of her crew, especially not Link.

Link meanwhile was seeing every moment of this and drawing his sword.He was too angry to be thinking 'I told her so'. He leapt forward, sword in the air and thrust it down on the plant which screamed, releasing Tetra. She stood back, clasping her arm, trying to swallow her sobs of anguish. Link was still in a red-eyed blind fury, randomly slicing at every available part of the plant, which was squealing and writhing in agony. Finally with one lumberjack style swipe he cut the stalk in two sending the lifeless head to the floor. He sighed and relaxed his muscles. His eyes suddenly widened and he brought his head up as soon as he remembered why he'd been so angry.

He rushed over to Tetra. "Let me see your arm," he said with an out of character concern in his voice. Tetra held up her arm, and link cringed at the mess the plant had managed to make of it. His face suddenly lit up and he reached in to one of this countless pockets and pulled out another bottle, similar to the one he'd put the forest water in, except this one had a rather depressed looking fairy sat in it. He uncorked it and the now smiling fairly flew out gleefully. It took a look at Link, and then and Tetra, who it flew over to. It glanced at her arm and appeared to be examining it. It hung its head slightly, but then resumed normal fairy activity; flying around someone in circles, sprinkling fairy dust over them and healing their wounds. Once it had completed its task it flew away, leaving Tetra finger the zigzag purplish scar on her arm. Link thought it was rather unusual for a fairy healed wound to leave a scar but didn't think it was important.

Link looked over at the plant's remains, which were currently disappearing into a purple haze. He could have sworn he saw a blue light behind it. He did, he ran to what was left of the drifting plume to see that enveloped in it was a heart container. He picked it up and it began to glow even brighter and moving towards him. It came into contact with his torso it flashed a near blinding white and sank into his body. All signs of fatigue disappeared from his face. Tetra was stunned. "Amazing." She managed to whisper under her breath. The green-garbed hero turned to face her, smiling, and tilted his head towards a small exit from the clearing. "Well," he said "shall we be on our way then?"

And thus the two friends continued their little escapade through the forest until they came to a long and moonlit beach. Link glanced around "There's nothing here," he remarked "but considering everything else we've found on this island I guess that's a good thing." Tetra was staring at the moon seemingly ignoring him. She turned her head to face him and said flatly "It's getting late, we should set up camp." Link nodded and turned to one of the trees behind him, snapping off a few twigs. He placed himself down on the ground next to an already sitting Tetra and began work on a fire. "What was that thing you found back there?" She asked him.

"Wha- Oh that, that was a heart container, uh, hold on." He pulled out his bow and wrapped the string around one of the sticks. He began vigorously moving it back and forth, then turned back to Tetra, still continuing his attempt at kindling the wood. "You know," he said "I've noticed that the really, really powerful monsters, like the ones that guard the dungeons, all have those. I've got a theory." Tetra tilted her head to one side.

"Oh, and what's that?"

"Well, they all just look like really big monsters, so I reckon; it's having the heart container that makes 'em that way. They can't handle all that energy, mutates 'em." Tetra looked out onto the rolling ocean. "You know, that actually makes sense." She said. She was in fact quite impressed by his logic. Though, as I've stated before; she'd never let him know that though. "Wait," She said turning back to face him "how come you can 'handle' the energy if they can't."

Link didn't have an explanation for this. "I dunno," he confessed "maybe it's because people have hearts, that would kinda go with the hole 'heart container' name, or maybe it's 'cause I'm the Hero of Winds or some- ah! The fire's going!" Tetra looked the now roaring flames. "Took ya long enough!" She spat, scooting closer to the warming glow of the flames. She stared up into the sky with a contented smile on her face, and sighed. "This reminds me of when I used to stargaze with my mum." She murmured sadly. Link couldn't help but be sympathetic. He hated to see cheerful, constantly laughing Tetra in such a state. He hung his head and forlornly whispered "I can't even remember my parents."

"Lucky." Tetra hissed sourly

"What?"

"Sorry. It's just… sometimes I think if I didn't remember her so well it might not hurt so much…" She trailed off, and began speaking again, quietly. "You see, we were stargazing on a night just like this, Gonzo and all the other crew were off cutting wood and fishing for shrimp, the ship had taken a little damage, you see, I can't really remember how, and Mako had found a high up rock somewhere to read, so we were basically all alone, and mum was pointing out all the constellations to me." Link was giving her story his full attention with a sympathetic expression on his young face. "We, we heard this rustling in the bushes and mum could see shadows, when this sort of thing happened she got all cat-like you know, all poised and ready to strike. I must have only been five but I still remember it like it was yesterday. And suddenly, just like that we were surrounded by them, loads and loads of Moblins. Stupid blue big-nosed freaks." Link could hear an obvious resentment in her voice that went way beyond her experiences with Ganon. Tetra continued her woeful tale "They all had spears and lamps, I don't even remember what island we were on, but, they must have seen our fire, and I remember that mum pushed me under one of the blankets and I heard a scream, probably my own… I'm such a coward."

"Tetra, don't say that, you're one of the bravest people I know. Hell, you're braver than me!" Link almost yelled at her. Tetra just looked away.

"But, I could see everything from under there, the colour of her blood…" Link could hear her voice starting to waver. "Tetra… You don't have to tell me all this." She shook her head. "No, you're my best friend, I can tell you anything right?" Link nodded reassuringly, but still with an uncertain expression on his face. "One of them, he just… ran her through with his spear and, I could see them tearing her flesh from her bones." Her voice was filled with revulsion "The pirates came back, they heard whoever screamed, and they got rid of the monsters, but it was too late. I, I saw it, I watched my mum die…" By this time she was looking completely away from Link.

He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, turning her around to face him. He was extremely surprised to see the tears rolling down her cheeks. Seeing tougher than diamonds, totally invincible, tick me off once and I'll rip your spleen out, Tetra cry was like watching the Devil ride to work on a steamroller. He thought to himself _Oh, Goddesses, now what? Whenever Aryll starts bawling you just have to hug her and tell her not to cry, but I think if I did that to Tetra my life expectancy would be about the same as a fish's memory span._ Tetra cursed herself for her moment of weakness, but couldn't help feel slightly better from Link's understanding gaze. She just didn't want to face anything alone anymore. Before Link knew what was happening she had wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shirt, and almost knocked him over in the process. _Then again _He reflected.

Link, all in all, was mildly disturbed by the events and was inwardly telling himself to wake up, not that he minded having a cute girl practically draped over him. Then it occurred to him: since when did he think Tetra was cute? That was the second time that had happened today. He considered, perhaps that the time out at sea had driven him off the deep end. He couldn't think of anything to do. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. He guessed he was supposed to do what he'd do if one of his friends from Outset was crying, admittedly none of his friends had ever hugged him, a fact of which he was quite relieved considering they consisted of small boys and Zill, who's shoes probably didn't fit properly, as he seemed to make an odd popping noise as he walked. Link rested his hand on the girls back and looked over her sympathetically, her head rested on his shoulder, she was still sobbing quietly.

Link's eyes slowly drifted open. He looked up at the pale blue morning sky, and allowed the calming sound of the waves washing up and down the beach to flow over him as he shook the sand out of his hair. He looked down beside him where Tetra was still asleep. "Why am I always the first to wake up?" He said to himself "Well at least she's happy when she's asleep." He remarked, noting the thin smile on her lips. "Oh well, time to drag her back to her misery." He said playfully, shaking her shoulder. "Tetra, wake up Tetra," he whispered. The pirate girl didn't stir in the slightest. _Goddesses, she sleeps like a Redead!_ "Okay that's it." He murmured to himself, grabbing Tetra's vest he began violently shaking her. "Tetra! Wake up! Now!" He screamed. The girl slowly opened her eyes. "Link…" She whispered quietly. He tilted his head to one side. Her expression became harsher. "Let go of my shirt you perv!"

"Wha-!" He yelled, dropping her onto the sand. She dusted herself down and got to her feet, glaring at him. "Hey, wha-, but… you wouldn't wake up!" He exclaimed, a blush spreading across his face.

Link's sensitive, pointed ears pricked up, and he looked over to the water, swearing he'd heard something. He spied a shadow darting around beneath the azure wave. "Ah-ha." He mumbled making his way to the water's edge. He reached into one of his seemingly infinite pockets and took out a small floppy bag made to look like a pig's head. It wasn't a particularly happy looking pig though. "Link what're you-?" Tetra asked, before being shushed by Link, who had just produced a cluster of red pellets from the sack. The tossed them onto the water, in the general area of the shape he'd seen. "Link, this hardly, seems like a good time to be feeding the fish!" Tetra muttered doubtingly "Shh! You'll scare him away!" He hissed back.

After the bait that Link had thrown had been floating on the water for a few moments, each pellet seemed to disappear. And then something Tetra definitely wasn't expecting happened. The fish popped up, front first from the water. It had a face like a person. It wasn't a persons face, it still had scaled and everything, but both its eyes were on the front of its head, and it had lips. You don't see many fish with lips. "'Hoy, small fry!" It yelled at him in a voice that was the same as the voices of all the other talking fish. "You need something?" It asked.

"Um, yeah, could you tell us where we are?" Link was acting like this were a perfectly normal occurrence, then again, knowing him it probably was. "Well, fry, d'ya got a sea chart?" It asked. Link handed him the dusty map, which he examined shaking his head. "This'll never do, fry." Link wore a blank expression "Your map's way too small."

"Too small? How can it be too small?"

Niko meanwhile, was still gazing in terror at the rolling ocean before him. "Are you really, really, really sure?" He asked Gonzo one last time, without a shred of hope in his voice. Gonzo nodded. Niko gulped again. "But that's straight off the edge of the sea chart, if we sail another mile I bet we'll fall off the edge of the world."

"I hear there's Big Octo's out there." Nudge said. "They're s'posed to be twice a big as the normal ones, and they have twenty eyes!" He made a shape like spectacles around his eyes with his fingers. "I heard about a crab that rips people nadgers off!" Exclaimed Senza, who was more happy to be telling monster stories than he was scared of sailing into uncharted waters. Niko gave out a small cry, then asked "Wait, what would crabs want with my private parts?" Mako looked up from his book, which he had been engrossed in for most of the conversation. "Must every discussion we have turn to this subject?" He enquired patronizingly. Gonzo was getting bored, so he simply erupted

"Will you guys shut it? We can't chicken out just because of a few crabs that neuter people! Think about it! What would the captain do if Link and the captain were missing?"

"Well," Niko interjected thoughtfully "if the captain and Link were missing, the captain'd be missing, wouldn't she?" Gonzo stared into space for a moment.

"Well, what'd she do if just Link were missing then?" He yelled angrily at his having been outsmarted. By Niko no less, Mako he could handle, but Niko! At this point Niko would have made a stupid and pointless joke about Link being Tetra's boyfriend, fabricating lies being a hobby of his, but thought better of it, remembering the bruise he still had on his stomach from nine months ago. Eventually after much whining, bickering and sighing, the crew managed to set sail north of Gale Isle.

"Well?" Link inquired again "What do you mean my map's too small." The fish stared at him blankly as if the answer was staring Link right in the face. "Well?" He cried again, seriously getting impatient. "Your map just stops before you get to this island, fry." The fish droned in a monotone voice.

"What?" Link half asked, half whined.

"See here, fry, I've got a bigger one just down in a treasure chest 'round here. I'll fetch it 'kay?" Link was happy the conversation had got beyond 'what'.

"Yeah, yeah, fine." He blurted out quickly. The fish disappeared under the water for a moment then slowly re-emerged holding something it appeared to be having a hard time carrying. It dumped the dripping, rusty, iron and oak chest onto the sand and began breathing so heavily Tetra could see its gills moving up and down. Link pried the chest open and looked down into it, him being a child, and it being a chest, he had to lean down into it to retrieve the piece of paper inside, which, to his surprise, hadn't rotted or smudged. It was about twice the size of his sea chart and had all the islands on Link's chart drawn in the centre. The rest was blank. Link was slightly confused. "So, where are we?" He asked.

"You're about here, fry." It said pointing to the space above the one containing Gale Isle.

"But, there's nothing there…" Link murmured.

"Yep." The fish said nonchalantly "You might just wanna get a map maker to fill in those blank squares."

"What? You mean this map's not finished?" Link screamed at it

"Nope." Link was just getting annoyed now.

"Well, can you fill this square in?"

"Why should I?"

"I gave you food, didn't I?"

"Oh, fine!" The fish grunted, producing a calligraphy brush from under the water. "Show me the chart." Link handed it over and the fish put one swift stroke on the paper. He returned the map to Link who looked at it with a bemused expression. "It looks like an egg on its side." He muttered in confusion. Then he noticed it didn't have any writing next to it. "Hey, doesn't this island have a name?" He said questioningly.

"Sorry, fry, no names here, just a fish and a bunch of ugly trees." The fish replied as if he'd said something funny. "Okay then," Link said, starting to pull apart the chest. "hand me that brush." The bewildered fish did as instructed.

Link jammed a loosened nail between one of the sides and a long beam that had held the back to the bottom. The inside, not exposed to the water had stayed a pleasant light brown. He painted the words 'FoREsT TRAP IsLAND' onto his makeshift sign and stuck it into the ground. "There we go." He said, satisfied with his handiwork. "Now, all that's left to do is wait for the pirates to pick us up." This fish also heard this and told him. "If they're coming from that windy place down south, you'll need to be on the other side of the island."

"Fine." Tetra said, looking down the winding beach "Come on then." And on the entire journey back to the spot they'd woken up on the day before she only said three patronizing words to him. "Forest Trap Island?"

Link exhaled from exhaustion when they arrived back at the spot they were walking to and glanced over the horizon. His eyes widened. "Tetra, I see it!" He yelled "Tetra, I see the pirate ship!" Hr clambered up the grey barked tree and waved his arms.

On the ship Zuko closed his telescope and looked down from the crow's nest. "It's them!" he yelled "It's miss and Link!"

* * *

At last, finished! Hooray! Finally, finally, finally! Sorry I kept ya so long. But I'm also working on a Metropolis story. If you haven't seen that film (in Japanese with subtitles) you haven't lived. It's called soul data but it's not published yet, it might be done tomorrow or the day after. (This is only relevant if you're reading this the day it was published. 


	5. Problems & Solutions

**The Pirate and the Hero**

By: Wordsworth 13

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda

Chapter 5: Problems & Solutions

* * *

Link, as usual, woke up late, with back pains, a direct result of sleeping on a wooden crate. He almost missed the sands. Two days ago, the pirates had picked him and Tetra up from Forest Trap Island and last night he and the captain had made a decision.

He climbed up the ladder and lazily trudged up the stairs, making his way towards the door that led to the main deck. As he opened the door he spotted a familiar short man with goofy buck teeth and scruffy blonde hair hidden by a pirate bandana. "Niko," he hissed, running towards his shipmate "Where's the captain? I have to go beg for mercy."

"No worries, Swabbie!" Niko told him "You're not the only person who's late up today, no-one's seen the captain yet."

"Really?" Link asked. This was odd, Tetra, whereas not punctual or fussy, at least had more discipline than to lie in just because she felt like it. Besides, the crew were hopeless without their Captain, well almost, and they'd be utterly helpless trying to carry out the next plan to locate the new Hyrule: Explore the unexplored, as in, the uncharted waters. Now, the crew knew that the myths about monsters were merely myths from recent personal experience, but then they could barely make heads or tails of the sea if they didn't have a map.

Link sighed, "Hasn't anybody thought to even knock on her door?" He asked as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, which really, it was. Niko shook his head "Can't." He replied plainly. "Too scared." Link sighed again, every day the pirates seemed more and more pathetic, even last night Niko wouldn't go to bed because there was a spider standing next to his crate, and Link was pretty sure it had been dead anyway. The minty garbed thirteen-year-old opened the cabin door and made his way back below deck. He knocked on the red doorframe with the back of his fist, but almost forgot what he was there for when his eye caught Tetra's delicate sleeping form, her graceful yellow hair loose dangling halfway over her face. She lifted her head up and blinked once. "Link, what is it?" She murmured sleepily.

"Uh, Tetra, everyone but you is up." Link replied quietly "You should really get dressed and come up on deck." Upon this remark Tetra realised that the only thing covering her was her bed sheet. "Well, go away then she replied as sharply as she could in her semi conscious state. "Okaaaaaaaaay…" Link said, stepping away, mildly surprised by Tetra's lack of enthusiasm when yelling at him and climbed back onto the deck.

A good nine minutes of waiting by the door later Link remarked to Mako "Boy, girls sure do take a long time to get dressed. Mako simply replied "I wouldn't know, we've never had to wait on the Miss since before her mother got- uh…"

"Impaled by Moblins, I know." Link said hanging his head solemnly. Another minute passed and the door to his right was slowly pushed open and a normally dressed, but not dignified at all, pirate captain drifted through looking as awake as a lump of coal in a fire. Have you ever noticed how coal is just too lazy to run around screaming when it catches alight?

The not-so-graceful looking commander of brigands flopped herself over the railing and looked out to see. "Um… Tetra, did you sleep okay last night?" Link asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay, I'm okay." Tetra assured him "Just feeling a little iffy, that's all, nothing whatsoever."

"Tetra, getting sick isn't nothing whatsoever," Link warned her "you shouldn't push yourself."

"Why not?" Tetra asked "I've been pushing myself all my life, and look at me now!"

"That's my point exactly." Link replied with nothing but cheeky humour in his tone.

"Why you…" Tetra came back, halfway between sleepily and bitingly harsh, but before she could finish her sentence turned around and threw up over the side of the boat.

"See, you're not fine!" Link practically shouted, "In fact I'd say you're violently ill!"

It was at this point that Gonzo started to panic. "Oh what do we do? Oh, what do we do?" He murmured to himself on the tone of someone who, well, doesn't know what he should do in the present situation. "Is there any medicine on board?" Link asked. Gonzo shook his head. "Nope, no-one's ever got sick before." He patted his chest "The sea air's good for ya, you see. And if people get sick from to much grog, we hang 'em over the edge 'till they hurl, and then they're fine."

"Well, that couldn't be it, she was in a meeting with me last night…" Link said uncertainly. Then his eyes widened slightly and a knowing smile lit up his face. "I know." All eyes turned on him. "I'll just take her to see Orca's brother."

"Who?" Senza asked, befuddled, as were the rest of the crew.

"Orca's brother." Link replied "Long story short he's a really, really smart guy who lives on my home island, we'll just ask him how to fix this, 'kay?"

"'Kay!" the amassed rapscallions of wherever they were said in unison.

"Which way, green kid?" Gonzo asked enthusiastically

"For you guys, no way, it's too far, I have a short cut." Everyone looked befuddled at this comment. Link patted his pocket and coughed. Everyone appeared bemused. He pulled out the Wind Waker and coughed very loudly. Everyone did not seem confused.

"Why can't you use it on us?" Niko asked

"Ship's too big; a cyclone would tear it apart." Link replied nonchalantly

"Whoa, you can make tornadoes too!?" Niko asked in surprise.

"Oh, did I not mention that?" Link murmured, hopping into the King of Red Lions, which was suspended to the side of the auburn galleon. "Can someone, put the captain in here please?" He asked as he began to untie some of the safety ropes. Gonzo tried to pick Tetra up before a sharp "Put me down, moron!" split the air. The tattooed buccaneer placed his commander back onto the deck and she stumbled towards the boat hanging precariously over the side of her ship. She made it most of the way before she collapsed, falling over the railings into Link's expecting arms. "Still think you're okay?" He asked triumphantly "Get your hands off me, pervert." was the girl's unappreciative response

"Whatever you say," he said mischievously, dropping her onto the boat's wooden flooring. "Hey what do you th-" was all Tetra had time to grumble dizzily before link untied the main rope and the pair plunged down onto the rolling waters.

Link yelled "Just go put yourselves in harbour at Windfall, I'll be back soon," up at the mariners. After he had sailed to a safe distance, Link set about waving his silver baton in a simple series of directions to summon one of the whirlwinds of Cyclose, a weird looking frog-shaped lesser god with a strange attitude to, well, everything. Before one could say something strange about odd sandwich fillings and sports utensils, Link was looking at his home once again. Sooner than he'd expected, but he was in no mood to be happy about much anything; despite his jovial façade he was deeply concerned for his friend.

He moored the boat and lifted Tetra up and stepped onto the soft, white sand. "I can walk." The pirate hissed at him. He did as was instructed, and as soon as she was on her feet she fell over again, and landed in Link's arms, again. "Now will you accept that you need some help?" He asked sternly, he was actually becoming considerably agitated.

"Fine, but none of that carrying me like we're getting married or something!" She sighed with an edge. Link didn't know you could even do that. "Okay, but you could have picked a much better phrase." He replied happily, slipping her arm over his shoulders, and carrying her like a wounded soldier, which was perhaps, far more befitting a pirate captain. If it was Tetra, that came before 'pretty girl' on her list of identities.

Somehow managing to drag her up the ladder on the side of Orca's house, he popped her up against the wall and knocked on the door. "Hello, Sturgeon!" He said eagerly as a bald man with a pair of small round spectacles covering his eyes, a long, wispy beard and a large bald dome to 'top it all off', "Link? Is that you my boy, oh, my, how you've grown."

"I haven't grown." Sturgeon thought for a moment before saying this

"Oh, my, how I've shrunk." Link paused before saying

"Um, yeah, listen I need a favour."

About ten minutes later everyone was sitting at the low coffee table in the dark orange wooded hut. "So, your girlfriend's sick then?" Sturgeon asked after hearing Link's tale of minimal woe. "She's not my girlfriend!" Link cried out in alarm, hoping Tetra hadn't been conscious or sound minded enough t hear and understand that comment. "It might have something to do with this scar on her arm." He said uncertainly.

Sturgeon took a look at the violet zigzag mark across Tetra's limb, "How did this happen?" he asked. One long story later, the hugging parts left out, Sturgeon was flipping through some dusty old books, looking for any reference to their predicament. "Ah, here, that plant that bit the young miss was a rare flower related to the Boko Baba Plant, called a Kalle Necros, and it ahm…" The old man trailed off, and then asked "Would you like sugar with your diagnosis?" Tetra shook her head vehemently; she seemed to be feeling a bit better. "In that case," he announced "you're going to die in four weeks unless you can gather the ingredients for a very particular and hard to make potion, then find someone talented enough to stir the damn thing up for you."

"Oh," Link said "well that shouldn't be too hard." Sturgeon looked surprised "Do you have some kind of list of ingredients?" Link enbquired hopefully. The elderly genius handed a piece of paper to Link who skimmed it through whispering to himself "Chu jelly, chu jelly, chu jelly, more bloody chu jelly, Boko Baba seeds, Kargaroc feathers, and some other stuff I've never heard of, okay." He looked up at the old man "I owe you one."

"Oh, by the way, that scar will heal, and you can fix her stomach with this." The man handed Link what appeared to be a bar made of weeds that had been smooshed together. "This looks like a bar of weeds that've been smooshed together."

"It is a bar of weeds that've been smooshed together."

"Oh,"

A short while later Link and Tetra were sitting in the King of Red Lions in a tucked away nook at the 'back' of the island, the female member of the pair unenthusiastically nibbling at the bar of weeds that'd been smooshed together. "What's on that list?" She asked him. It tasted like vomit, but that lump of near edible compost was doing the trick. He unrolled the parchment and recited it;

"1 Red Chu Jelly, 1 Green Chu Jelly, 1 Blue Chu Jelly, 1 Golden Feather, 1 Boko Baba Seed, 1 Dragon's Scale, 250 grams of Fairy Dust and 1 Drop of Salt Water, then the potion needs to be boiled, flash frozen and blessed by the holy light, then it has to ferment for three days."

Tetra just nodded and put her feet up, "I'm hungry." She said, "Get us something to eat."

"There's plenty of food back aboard the ship."

"Well, I want a break from pirating, get us something to eat." Link sighed,

"Fine, I'll go visit Grandma and get us some soup." He had wanted to avoid visiting his family; he'd have to disappoint them by leaving again. He climbed up the prow of the boat and hopped off onto a large stepping stone.

He visited his family and there was much ado, many questions, a few answers and after about half and hour and a lot of 'sorry but I really have to go'ing, he made it back to the King of Red Lions and back to Tetra. He would have wanted to stay lobnger, and by longer I mean for weeks, but the captain didn't like to be kept waiting, and his family's barrage of concern was giving him a migraine.

He found her asleep; he shook her shoulder to wake her up, which worked surprisingly enough. "Well that certainly took awhile." She said impatiently

"Just drink your soup." The boy responded firmly. And the two ate in silence, before their non-conversation was interrupted by one of the most shocking things that had ever happened to Link:

"Thanks." Tetra said.

"What?" He said in utter disbeleif "Thanks!? For what?"

"Thanks, if you hadn't brought me here, I wouldn't be seeing next year for certain, and for listening to me back on the island."

"Don't worry, Tetra, I'm your friend, it's what I'm here for." He told her reassuringly.

"Thanks. It's nice to have someone I can actually talk to. I can't really tell the pirates anything."

"Why not?"

"Pirate captains aren't supposed to have emotions." She whispered miserably "I didn't have anyone to turn to after mum died, they're all too stupid, or if it's Mako; too smart, so no-one really understood me. I've never had a real friend. Not one 'till you came along." Link could see tears starting to well up in her eyes. Tetra never actually started crying, in fact Link wasn't sure if he hadn't imagined the tears, but he moved closer to her and put an arm around her shoulder.

She looked up to him, smiled and took a deep breath. "But the past is the past." She declared jubilantly. Link smiled back. It was like the two friends had absolutely no problems, aside from the obvious, 'make this potion or you die' thing they had going on.

Absolutely out of the blue, then, a deep, booming and familiar voice came from seemingly nowhere and everywhere. "Would you two mind not flirting on my back!?" It demanded, the boat turning its figurehead around to glare at the two of them.

"King!?" Link gasped

* * *

Yes! Another chapter done after so, so, so, so, so long, so what did you think, have I lost my touch, is it the best yet, or is the darned thing smack bang in the middle. All reviewers will not be destroyed by my Martian brethren! 


	6. Kings & Queens

**The Pirate and the Hero**

By: Wordsworth 13

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda

* * *

Chapter 6: Kings & Queens 

Link was surprised. Pleasantly surprised, pleasantly, 'Oh my goddesses, holy shit, you almost gave me a heart attack' surprised, but pleasantly nonetheless. Staring back at him was the carved, red and yellow visage of a royal lion, and it was the prow of his boat. "King you're alive," he yelled in jubilation. The boat looked himself up and down. "Your right." The boat murmured before yelling up at the sky "Hey! That wasn't part of the deal."

"Something wrong?" The elfin thirteen-year old asked the talking water vehicle.

"Yes! I liked being dead, people left me alone!" King whined.

"Wow, the talking boat's talking again." Tetra mumbled in a relative lack of surprise.

"Yes, isn't it fantastic, my buddy's back!" Link cried out, wrapping his arms around the figurehead's figure-neck.

"Hey, hey, calm down, and more importantly get your filthy mitts off me!" The King instructed him. Tetra coughed

"Do we not maybe have something slightly more important than this to do, Link?" She asked sarcastically

"Oh, right!" He said, fumbling through his tunic for the Wind Waker, producing it and playing a simple tune to summon up yet another whirlwind. Within the space of two minutes he, Tetra and their carved and suddenly-back-from-the-dead companion, were sucked up and dumped somewhere off the coast of one Windfall Island.

Niko was hanging off the side of the pirate ship, slumped over the railings in a dejected boredom. It was too early to get drunk, too cloudy to sunbathe and too public to start randomly swearing in the knowledge that nobody could hear him. But, out of the blue, a vaguely familiar sound met his ears, which looked like small dinner plates stuck randomly on either side of his head. It was the wind, moving very quickly, very close by. He looked out to the sea and saw a huge grey swirl of dust that had been whisked up into the atmosphere, which gradually dissipated, leaving behind a red boat. One he'd seen before, containing Link and the miss. They were back! "Hey, hey you guys, the miss is back!" He began shouting out across the ship. It wasn't rude but at least he got to shout something.

The scarlet vessel drifted towards the pirate galleon at a leisurely pace, but soon arrived to a cheery reception, Link and Tetra being dragged jollily out of the seafaring tub. "Great to see ya back in one piece, Link!" Gonzo laughed slapping him heartily and painfully on the back. Niko meanwhile was looking at all the details of the King. "Wow, never noticed how fancy yer boat was before, Link!"

"Why thank you." The King of Red Lions said

"Aaaaagh! Possessed boat!" The blond scallywag screamed in horror

"He's not possessed, King can talk, he just stopped, for a while…" Link explained unsurely

"More'n a year." Zuko said plaintively.

"Weird." Niko said, looking into King's lacquered wooden eyes.

"Says you." The King retorted

After not a lot of explaining about the boat, the pirates wanted explaining, but not a lot, about what was wrong with the captain. Tetra fielded that one "Well, basically I've been infected with a deadly, deadly poison and if we don't gather the ingredients for the antidote within four weeks I'll die. The sickness was temporary and I'm fine now. We should be able to get the ingredients relatively quickly and we're setting off immediately, any questions!?" Before anyone had time to raise their hand or say a syllable a million times shorter that the word 'deed' she continued as thus; "No? Good, where to first, navigator?" All eyes turned to Link. He lifted the battered parchment that was the list and read the first things on there. "We should set sail for … Paw-Print Isle." He instructed them. Everyone was silent. "Why?" Someone finally asked, though Link wasn't sure who.

"Because of its high Chu population." He said, though this meant nought to the crew, most of whom didn't know the meaning of the word 'population'. "Look, just set sail." He said. No-one questioned this, all going about their duties, including Link, who was conducting a simple tune with his baton to put the wind in a correspondent southern direction to speed the journey. Once he'd done this he had little else to do unless some unusual obstruction caused a course change, so he went over to the King of Red Lions, jumping aboard and putting his feet up.

"Link?"

"Hm?"

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" King enquired

"What do you mean?" The elfish child asked back in surprise

"Well, I mean look at me, I'm talking again! Why would that happen, just ask yourself?"

"I dunno," Link said, replying as honestly as he could

"Has anything else strange happened recently?"

"Well, we found an island that was full of monsters, but what connection could there be?" King would have shrugged had he been in possession of a pair of shoulders, but instead merely stated "I don't know."

"Well, I'm glad you're back."

"I'm not." Link glared at him for a moment

"You're too cynical." He complained, before tipping his cap forwards and settling down for a nap. A boat or a crate, what difference did it make? He was going to get a sore back either way.

When he was awoken it was unexpected, sudden, painful and most of all; rude! The pirate ship thumped against the edge of Paw-Print Isle, throwing him forwards slightly and giving him a minor whiplash. Like I said: painful. It wasn't long before Tetra was looming over him like a rain cloud. "Okay, fairy-boy, get going!"

"Wha-" Link mumbled in confusion

"You're the only person on this boat who knows what to look for, so get on with it!" She hissed

"All right, all right." The pointy-eared child whispered sharply as he rose up and dusted himself off. He leapt off the side of the boat, rolling on his landing, and yelled back up. "Gimme five minutes, 'kay!?"

"Okay!" The tanned girl called back down to him. He ran off and she turned around to look at her crew. "Well," she said slowly "what now?" The crew just looked at her. "Hello? We have five minutes to wait, now what are we gonna do 'til Link gets back?"

"We could, er, play cards, cap'n." Niko suggested

"Okay." She said. It was quite possibly the best idea Niko would have in his life.

"Ah, one problem cap'n…" Senza said, raising his hand "Nudge ate our only deck." Tetra gave both the aforementioned crewmembers funny looks.

"What?" Nudge asked "I was hungry." Tetra slapped herself. How did she wind up with this bunch of imbeciles?

"Miss," Senza began again "I could make some more with a knife and some scrap wood." He finished nervously.

"Good idea, tell me when you're done." She said, laying down where Link had been about thirty seconds prior. "Niko, get the man some wood!"

"Aw, do I have to?" The buck toothed excuse for a seaman groaned. Tetra gave him a death glare. "On my way!" He announced hurriedly; when Tetra glared at someone, they really got a good glaring-at, but I suspect this was known to you already. With nothing better to do, and believe me, from her point of view there were so many better options, she got to thinking.

Why wasn't she afraid? Normal people would be afraid. Her life was at risk. Maybe it was because it wasn't an immediate risk, not life or death, well actually it was, but they had four weeks to sort it out. But still, it wasn't normal for someone to be this calm, was it? Was it that she really trusted Link to the extent where her very life is as easy a thing to watch over as a bag of shopping? She hoped not. Trusting people never got you anywhere, especially if it was with your life. Most people who did that were dead. She knew she already trusted the boy more than any of her other mismatched compliment, but not with her life. Did she? She _was_, after all, having him go most of this mission solo. It was a difficult conundrum. There was no way she had that much faith in Link's abilities, she just had to remember that. Then again, why not trust someone who saved the world? The world is a big responsibility after all, if Link could save a world's population, why not just one girl. No, just one pirate; that came first, she was the captain, not the maiden. She had to remember who she was.

It crossed her mind that talking about her feelings had perhaps brought to surface some of her long repressed femininity. She shuddered at the though. '_Me, being girlish…eew._'

She shook her head. Only a few moments after this Link returned with his spoils bag looking no bigger but a victorious smile on his face said the same thing as he did. "Got 'em!" He declared with glee, holding the sack up for all to admire. It wasn't really particularly splendid though.

"Good." Tetra noncommittally responded, not imbalanced by any sort of gladness at his success '_Do not let on that you're in the middle of an identity crisis._' "How are those cards coming along, Senza?"

"I'm half way through the ace o' diamonds."

"Good." The captain said again '_Only a slight one though…_' "Where next?" All eyes back to Link. He scrambled back to the list, which had fitted nicely into his map pocket. "Uh, the Forest Haven…" He stammered uncertainly reading the next item on the list to be Boko Baba seeds.

"Okay." Tetra said dully. She was getting tired, it was late evening already. "Gonzo, man the wheel, Senza, have a nap and take the graveyard shift. I'm going to bed." And with that the blue-eyed thirteen year old walked off to her quarters. Being poisoned was exhausting.

It was about fifteen minutes that passed as she quietly watched each member of the crew, excluding the pair she'd left on duty, walk yawning with fatigue into the cargo hold, preparing for a painful night sleeping with a bunch of other loud, smelly pirates who acted like they didn't want to go to sleep but really did. Fifteen minutes until he walked past, looked at her and walked in, "Hey Tetra." Link said, smiling at the girl. Link smiled with an annoying frequency. How could anyone be that disgustingly happy?

"What do you want?"

"Just to talk."

"Oh? Well then start talking." Link sighed

"Tetra, is something bothering you?" She stared at him "Yes." He answered his own question

"How'd ya guess?"

"Your eyes,"

"What?"

"your eyes have lost their adventurous spark, and frankly Tetra isn't Tetra without her spark." The girl just stared at him for a bit. She looked down at her arm and said emotionlessly: "The scar's fading."

"That's good, now why don't you tell me what's wrong?" Tetra just looked down at her bed sheets.

"I guess…" she began but didn't finish. Link was not sitting on the floor, just listening intently, not saying a word. "I think, maybe… I guess it's…" She finally sighed and collected her thoughts into a single sentence, which was quite obviously easier to understand than her fragmented statement starters. "I guess sometimes it's tough being the captain, you know?" Link looked up at her and said

"I think we'd both be a lot happier if you just tried to be Tetra. That's who you are, and she just happens to be a pirate captain." Tetra said nothing. "But that's something for you to think about, not me." He rose to his feet and looked down at the blonde girl before him, almost taking the conversation as an excuse to stare at her, though not quite realising it. He quietly left the room.

'_Well, that was a short lived problem_' thought Tetra. Link was probably right, he usually was. And he always won arguments too; he was the only person she'd never been able to wear down. In most situations she'd keep making the same argument until the other person gave up, but Link was always determined, it was just part of who Link was. Speaking of which, she had to be getting back to who she was, and she was a fearless pirate captain with a mission. But that could wait 'til tomorrow, for now, she needed some sleep.

* * *

Well! That's that! Chappy six is over and seven will be on its merry way soon. Have I been writing OoC, if so please tell me as I haven't been on Zelda in a while… so please review as I am desperate for some readership in the same way the winner of a spontaneous prune juice and chocolate laxative ingesting competition next to a water fountain and the world's largest toilet would need to use the lavatory. Goodbye! 


	7. This & That

**The Pirate and the Hero**

By: Wordsworth 13

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own the legend of Zelda

* * *

Chapter 7: This & That

Monotony didn't kick in the next morning as was expected, though Link's constant back pain was still staple. The rest of the crew had vacated the lower deck and it now had an echoing, chasm like feel about it, which is probably why the words 'time to leave' quickly ran through his head. He hurried up the staircase and was about to turn onto the next flight before something caught his eye. And he caught someone else's. Tetra quickly finished buttoning up her waistcoat and moseyed over next to Link. She glared at him. "I- it was and accident and I didn't see anything!" He stammered immediately. The captain merely grabbed his collar and looked into his eyes, hers full of something somewhere between unyielding rage and sheer irritation. She could tell he wasn't lying, and she also knew it was true due to the fact that when she saw him he was still on his way up the first staircase, and she was definable as decent even at that point. But still, this was… a personal matter.

Link stumbled out of her room two minutes later and wheezed. "Ow…"

"Oh, quit whining you baby!" The pirate scolded him. Then she sighed and said "I'm going to have to get a door."

"Good idea," Link said, smiling and hoping he could get the girl to forget a certain one of his numerous screw ups further than she already had.

"And as punishment; you're putting it in." Link's face fell. It wasn't like it was on purpose. But what Tetra said went; she was the captain after all.

The two went onto the deck as normal; after all it was a pretty much normal day. "We're at the island, miss!" Senza announced.

"Good, Link-" she paused "and I will be going to fetch those ingredients." Senza saluted for no real reason

"Yes, miss!" And as one would expect, after that a gang plank was lowered and the captain and navigator walked down onto the island.

"This is a pretty big rock so give us about a day, 'kay!?" Link yelled at the pirates collectively. Senza nodded and replied:

"I'll get back to carving those playing cards."

"And I won't eat these ones!" Nudge yelled. Link just narrowed his eyes and murmured to himself a single bemused syllable

"What…?" Before deciding it wasn't important. He and Tetra sauntered up the staircase like 'dock' of the island. They expected no threats as most of the monsters had disappeared after Ganondorf's defeat. Tetra was still slightly edgy as the pair walked past a shrivelled Boko Baba bulb. "Don't worry Tetra, all the Boko Babas on this island are dead, trust me." Link said reassuringly. So he almost wet himself when the seed sprang to life, its huge green and violet head drooling like an old dog. "Oh, holy-! I stand corrected!" He cried in alarm, whipping out his boomerang, skilfully delivering the plant its final breath, or in the vegetation's case, final moment of photosynthesising. Then again, in the early darkness of autumn there wasn't much sunlight to be absorbing. Either way it was dead.

Link wiped his brow of sweat "Well, that's two potentially deadly screw-ups today." Tetra thought for a moment before that morning's 'interesting' events crossed her mind.

"How was the first one potentially life threatening?"

"Everything involving you is potentially life threatening." Tetra just glared at the so called 'fairy boy'. It never ceased to amaze her just how stupid his outfit really was. How did he get away with wearing something like that? Was it his face? He was pretty handsome after all, with his deep, viridian eyes and pretty-boy long hair. Was that last one cute or just freaky? Why was she thinking about how gorgeous the damn boy was? '_What the hell!?_' was the next sentence uttered by her psyche '_Did I just think that…_' She had to remind herself that her identity crisis was over and she knew herself to be Tetra; someone who beat Link up on a daily basis, not someone who mused over his boyish charms.

"Yo, Tetra, you okay?" He asked snapping his fingers in front of her eyes "Ya just spaced out there for a moment." Tetra shook her head.

"Sorry, let's just get going, okay?" Link dusted himself off

"Yeah, yeah." He said, looking up at a branch that hung over the body of water between. He produced a metal hook tied to a frayed length of rope from one of the countless little treasure troves within his tunic. "Well, grab on." Tetra just looked at him.

"What?"

"It's the only way to get across." The Hylian boy reiterated with his right arm outstretched

"Then you're going across alone."

"So you want me to leave you out here alone with the monsters?"

"I can handle a few weeds!" Tetra protested

"Not with that." Link pointed out, gesturing towards the dagger wound into her belt.

"Then give me your sword." Link took a step back

"No way, it's even more dangerous inside the Haven."

Tetra grumbled "Then why is it a 'haven'?" before adding louder "Fine, you win." Like I should have expected anything else she hissed in her mind. She stepped reluctantly in defeat into Link's reach, at which point he wrapped the one arm around her and used the second the swing them both across the water, and landed skilfully followed by a quick slice of his Hero's Sword which sent a random spiny cannonball back to its point of origin. This was rather painful for the creature responsible. "That was what you meant by monsters?" Tetra asked, watching the writhing invertebrate vanish in the usual amethyst dispersal.

"Yeah, that and man eating plants, kinda like what did that." Link replied, pointing down at her electric blue scar, which was now barely visible

"Just a scratch," She said in a prematurely victorious tone

"Yeah, a scratch that'll have you dead if we don't hurry up," He said, by now having grappled onto yet another outgrowing limb, his arm reaching out to her. Again, she thought to herself in annoyance. "This better be the last time."

"One more," Link apologised, taking hold of the girl and swinging to the next platform, not even taking time to talk to her before latching onto yet another herbal outcrop. This time he had to drag Tetra across to evade an incoming projectile.

After this he somersaulted over the responsible sea bound, gelatinous predator and drove his mighty and heroic blade into the beast's grey matter, and it slowly diffused into the air as the normal plum smoke leaked from its wound. "Show off," Tetra muttered spitefully as she sauntered, arms crossed, into a mouth in the rock face which lead to the only part of the Forest haven that even remotely resembled a forest or a haven. The hero in green hurriedly followed her.

The two were met by a sight that was familiar to Link but an untapped well of amazement to the tanned pirate captain accompanying him, the soft sunlight gently caressing the canopy and drifting slowly down like a feather, tickling her skin with its delicate warmth, and dyed green by the leaves above the duo's heads. There was sparkling blue water flowing around her feet. She almost felt like a sinner standing in it with her muddy shoes, but all this poetic beauty and muse was interrupted like a voice. Not the high pitched, grating voice of her blonde companion, but a deep, echoing voiced that boomed and seemed to shake the very island itself. "Link!" It said. It seemed happy, like it was greeting an old friend. Tetra's eyes and face darted back and forth, trying to find the source of the mysterious baritone, until Link put a hand on her shoulder and pointed up at the largest tree in the forest. It was looking at them. Trees aren't supposed to _look_.

If I were to say that Tetra was somewhat taken aback by this I would be speaking literally; she actually took a step back and tripped over herself, landing on the floor with what could be described, though this is an odd turn of phrase, as a good, healthy thump. Infer into that what you please.

"Link, it's good to see you!" trees weren't supposed to talk either.

"Yeah, it's good to see you too, Great Deku Tree," Rising to her feet, Tetra enquired abruptly

"What the hell kinda name is that?" The tree looked directly at her now

"It's _my_ name!" He yelled indignantly, turning his eyes away from her in a huff

"Tetra, don't insult the tree!" Link whispered harshly at the girl, and then yelled up "Um, sorry, she's a pirate, ya know," apologetically to the former keeper of Farore's Pearl. "Oh, so _this_ is that 'Tetra' you were always complaining about." He replied knowingly, followed by an observant glance back at the blonde. Tetra glared at Link, who came up with "Look, Tetra, it was a long time ago." as his only feeble excuse. She kept on glaring and Link had a premonition of himself melting into a silver goo like substance if he didn't change the subject with some rapidity. "Uh, don't we have something to be doing?" He asked his cold-eyed companion.

"I don't know. You're the navigator." She replied, taking a step forwards in her usual authoritative, cross-armed, semi-inquisitive stare position

"Well we do, and if we don't do it you and the whole dindamned crew is," he thought carefully for a moment and finished "sunk."

Tetra stayed quiet, internally wondering how the crew would fare without her leadership and IQ of more than eighty, and also chuckling slightly. "What are you talking about, Link" The huge tree asked uncertainly.

"Uh…" Link mumbled. Tetra returned to coherence and stated flatly:

"I got bitten by a killer plant and I'll die within four weeks if I don't gather up all the ingredients for the meds." She seemed to have no problem saying it, which is likely the reason that both Link and the Deku Tree just stared at her for a while. The Deku Tree's expression changed, his expression returning to normal. "I assume that this is the reason you came. What can we help you with?"

"We?" Tetra said in surprise

The tree smiled "Me and my children." He looked to Link inquisitively.

"Um, we need a Boko Baba seed." The forest's guardian smiled kindly and replied in his most sincere voice

"Of course, of course, this is no problem, there are many scattered through this area, it should be no problem for you to find the things you are looking for."

Link bowed, knowing that he was talking to a demi-god, Tetra, in general confusion at the whole situation followed suit. The pair of thirteen-year-old adventurers then went about searching the ground for what it was they sought. Despite the Great Deku Tree's words it would be hard to find; it had been a long time since Ganondorf's fall after all.

After scanning the ground and not coming up with a single seed link rolled up his sleeves. "Well, it looks like we're gonna have to do some dirty work." He said.

"Excellent." The captain replied, cracking her knuckles. It was impossible to tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

Both children got onto their knees and began rooting between the tall blades of grass. "So how long d'you reckon this is gonna take?" Tetra said, clearly bored already.

"Not sure, but we're making progress." Link replied, brushing aside a clump of foliage to reveal their spiny, half-wooden treasure trove.

"Great, so I'm gonna have to eat that?"

"Not on its own." Link replied playfully "You'll also get weird tasting goo, scales and some nutritious dust."

"Whatever, let's just get back to the ship."

"Sure, sure, fine." The hero said, getting up and dusting himself off. He was about to turn around when he heard a familiar voice, with a slightly screechy, crow-like quality, yelling:

"Link, Link! I- Oh, buggerit, dah! Stupid branches. I- Ah! Here we are."

Link looked up and watched a human shaped creature with a beak and wings descend to the forest floor. "Qwill?" Link said in a surprised tone "What are you doing here?"

"I-" the harpy-esque creature gasped. "I have a letter for you!"

* * *

And that's that, a none too exciting cliff-hanger and another chapter complete. Don't hold your breath for no. eight I'm a lazy bugger. Please review, if you do, I promise not to murder you with a chainsaw and feast upon your delicious marrow. Wait! I did not just say that! 


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